25th Jan

Today, Grade 5 learnt about 'Disaster management'. They did 'jigsaw reading' for an article on the topic.

We did a 'Matrix activity' for all the sub types of tense. We did the 'Think - Pair - Share' for the various physical quantities that can be measured in 'Natural Disasters'

A few pictures....

22nd Jan

Grade 5 enjoyed the day today with a competitive spirit, literally!

We had a math quiz for the topics covered so far in fractions. Along with this, we also had a quiz for all the forms of tenses.

In groups, the children shared the safety tips for all the disasters. The children also did some map work - they marked the places where disasters have occurred in the past in a world map.

Here are some pictures:

20th Jan

Another holiday tomorrow - and the children might be jubilant! However, I hope the unpredictable breaks do not effect the inquiry process.

If the children are at home, they may work on their UOI project - They need to research about 5-6 natural disasters that have occurred in the past. A sheet has been given to them to be filled up.

For math, they have been given some practice for Fractions - Equivalent fractions, Simplification of fractions and inter conversion of mixed and improper fractions.

I hope we see the children on Friday. Enjoy for now..

19th Jan

Today was an IT driven day for Grade 5!

For our last inquiry point: "Prevention of natural disasters", the children went to the link http://library.thinkquest.org/16132/frames.html on the laptops. They inquired into the different ways in which people predict the disasters and the precautionary measures in case disaster emergencies. They practiced their note taking skills as they noted their understandings of the data. In math, they played online games for topics in fractions: Equivalent fractions, simplification of fractions and interconversion of mixed and improper fractions.

It is a holiday tomorrow due to the Telangana bandh... but I am sure the children will be occupied with their Math and UOI assignments!

18th Jan

We warmly welcome two new additions to our class... Natalie and Loren - A bubbly pair of twins from Texas.

The most enjoyed activity for the 5s today was the 'Exchange Please' game in math. A fraction was written on the board. Each child was given a number each. They had to find the correct equivalent fraction corresponding to the number they have got. When they are done, they need to say 'Exchange Please!' and exchange numbers with their class mates. A prize was given to the child with the maximum number of combinations.

In UOI, the children read out the letters they wrote on 'A Drought in my town'. We discussed the causes for droughts. The children also read out the articles they have collected on 'Floods' and we watched and discussed a photo story.

In English Language, we read and comprehended an article on Droughts.

Other than this, we brushed through the PowerPoint Presentation on the Leadership camp.

Please feel free to ask us about anything you want to more about.

12th Jan

The highlight of today was the inter house Dance competition. Many Grade 5 children took part in it: Rohan, Neha, Desdemona, Shreya, Sandeep and Shanmathi.

In math, we touched upon Equivalent fractions through an activity using A4 paper. We also watched discussed about videos on Digitally. In Language, we looked into the 3 variations in Present tense using a PowerPoint Presentation.

Here are few pictures and videos from the day..

11th January, 2010

The students of Grade 5 made presentations on Natural Disasters - our current unit of inquiry. The inquiry groups represented Earthquakes, Tsunami, Volcanoes and Tornadoes, Cyclones and Hurricanes. The presentations were made in the form of power point which consisted of illustrations of the disaster, a model representing the disaster, visual charts and crosswords to be solved. This was a part of formative assessments and a great way to get the students geared up for the PYP Exhibition.

8th Jan

For the PYP exhibition, the Grade 5 will be divided into groups. To make the understanding more meaningful, care must be taken so that each child works on something he/she is passionate about. Also, amongst all the 5 PYP elements (Learner Profile, Attitudes, Concepts, Transdisiplinary skills and Action), a lot of focus should be on the ACTION component. That means, whatever topic a child chooses, there should be some scope for each him/her to bring about a change, however small it may be. For example, if a child chooses to work on "Use of resources"; even if that particular child begins to turn off the lights and fans, it will be considered as 'action'.

The schools may choose to do the exhibition under any one of the six trans disciplinary themes. (We do one unit under every theme). We at Indus choose to do the exhibition under the theme "Sharing the planet". This is described as:

"An inquiry into rights and responsibilities in the struggle to share finite resources with other people and with other living things; communities and the relationships within and between them; access to equal opportunities; peace and conflict resolution."

For the sake of grouping the children, they were asked to write an article on any three issues that concern them the most (so that the child feels strongly about the topic). They were asked to choose the issue that exists in their immediate environment (so that substantial action can be taken).

After discussing the article written by all the children, Grade 5 was divided into four groups who will towards:

1. Climate change

2. Use of resources

3. Stray animals

4. Garbage disposal

Along with all this we did some math hands on activity on Fractions. In English Language, we did an activity on 'Tense'. Here are few pictures:

7th Jan

Although the PYP Exhibition is a unit of inquiry that lasts for 6 to 7 weeks, the entire learning process is showcased on the last day. We will take up the exhibition as our fifth unit which will start in beginning of March. The presentations will be done towards the end of April. Various media like Dance, Drama, Visual Art, IT, etc. will be used.

It goes without saying that the thing the children will exercise the most on that day will be their interpersonal skills. As an effort towards preparing them for this, the Grade 5's have been subjected to various experiences. One of them was the activity we did today:

The inquiry groups were asked to go around the school asking all the teachers and some students to give them words related to their disaster. For example, the volcanoes' group asked every one to say words related to 'volcanoes'. Later, the groups made cross words using these words.

Also in Math, we did an activity using blocks to learn the meaning of Fractions.

5th and 6th Jan

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Yesterday, the first day of school, was more to do with reflections and discussions. The children typed reports on their vacation using MS Word. These were edited by the teachers . Their current unit of inquiry is "Natural disasters". The children are divided into groups of four and have been given a disaster to become experts in. Yesterday, the children also made mind maps of what they have learnt so far in the unit. The math puzzles that each child found out over the vacation were solved by the rest of the class.

Today, the prior knowledge of the children related to "Fractions" (new topic in math) was assessed by using a graphic organizer called the "concentric circles". They had group conferences where in each child shared his/her findings with the rest of the group.

Moving on to the star topic: "PYP Exhibition".

The Exhibition is nothing but another Unit of inquiry! The difference lies in the way in which it is carried out. In this unit, the children decide their own central idea and take complete responsibility towards planning for the unit. The learning outcome of all the children is demonstrated on the last day of the unit, which is the actual 'Exhibition'. This is done in many forms: Music, Dance, Drama, PowerPoint Presentations, Visual art, etc.. More information will be shared with you regarding this as the days progress.